Intel's Core i5 processors - the mainstream follow up to the impressive Core i7 - are likely to start appearing towards the end of August, following announcements made at Computex yesterday.
Intel's Sean Maloney gave an update on Intel's processor roadmap for the expected 45nm 'Nehalem' and 32nm 'Westmere' lines.
Core i5 (which was codenamed Lynnfield) will be based on 45nm process technology, with four cores and hyper-threading. Like Core i7, it will feature 8MB of shared L3 cache, but Core i5 will support dual-channel RAM, rather than the triple-channel RAM that Core i7 supports.
Core i5 will also use a different socket to the Core i7 chips, meaning that you can't use the two processor lines on the same motherboards.
Core i5 motherboards will include the Intel P55 Express Chipset, which Intel says is "designed for high performance and lower power" and in combination with Core i5 "delivers faster multi-tasking, digital media creation and gaming performance" compared to the current Penryn-based Q9650 processors.
The uptake of Core i5 may be limited by the rapid release of more advanced products. Intel halted production on two processor lines based on Nehalem, codenamed Auburndale and Havendale, earlier this year. Those processors were to be dual-core Nehalem-based processors, but will now appear on 32nm manufacturing technology toward the end of the year.
Intel also announced two new Intel Core i7 processors: the Core i7 975 (3.33GHz) and Core i7 950 (3.06GHz).